confusion
by junodog
Summary: A crossover with Fullmetal Alchemist and the Redwall books: The Elric brothers end up in Mossflower woods and are somehow separated. mangabased.
1. Chapter 1

Yeah, here's another crossover for ya'll, I've got a ton of them. I'm not too happy with the last part of this first chapter, but oh well. Um… yeah, that's about all I have to say… Ah, yes, and it takes place during the book Pearls of Lutra so that's where the characters come from…

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It was about noon on a beautiful summer day. Tansy the hedgehog was walking along with Rollo, one of the older inhabitants of Redwall, looking for herbs for medicine. They stopped when they got to the road. Something suspicious was ahead. Tansy continued, and came upon a creature she had never seen before.

It had a strange lack of fur, except for on the top of its head and its eyebrows. The stuff on its head was gold, and mostly pulled back into a braid, except for some that was too short to go that far, and covered the sides of the creature's face.

"What is it? I've never seen anything like this before," Tansy asked as Rollo came walking up.

"Well, as far as I can tell, whatever it is, it's a male. As for what it is, your guess is as good as mine."

"How do you know it's a boy, Rollo?"

"Look closely at the face." Indeed, the strange creature's face gave off some masculine vibes. He was young, but male nonetheless.

Then she placed a hand on the creature's chest. The breathing was normal, but something was wrong. Why was he unconscious? That question was answered when she saw a red stain slowly spreading through the fabric of his clothes.

"He's hurt!" she exclaimed.

Rollo stood up. "Quick, try to stop the bleeding. I'll go back to Redwall and get help."

Tansy pulled off the creature's clothes in order to find where she needed to put pressure. She definitely didn't expect to see what she saw next.

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Edward Elric woke up in a state of confusion. He stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to process what had happened before he had lost consciousness. There had been some things that Ed could have sworn were rats, except for the fact that they had been bigger than him. Either somebody was messing with his emotions, or someone was creating very strange chimeras.

Before those creatures had appeared, Ed had been walking down a path with his brother. It had been nice, until Ed realized that 1. They were lost, and 2. The trees seemed to have gotten much, much bigger. Then those… rats… had attacked them, with swords, and Ed had lost track of events after that.

His chest hurt. He tried to sit up, but it was too painful. He had been wounded. Ed picked his head up slightly to see what exactly had been hurt. There were bandages covering most of his chest, reaching up to his left arm and halfway to his elbow. His neck was bandaged as well.

Ed heard a door open, and once again tried to sit up. Of course, he failed, and fell back again. Whoever it was still lingered in the doorway.

"You're finally awake." It was a female voice. Ed heard footsteps coming toward him, and finally a face came into view. It definitely wasn't what Ed was expecting. First a giant rat had attacked him, and now he was talking with a giant mouse? What the heck was going on?

-----------

He managed to stay pretty calm through this, although that was partially because he was in too much pain to move. Apparently the mouse was a nurse or something, because she ignored Ed's questions as she pulled off the bandages.

"Questions can wait. Right now you need to stay put and heal. You nearly died." She finished up and looked down at him for a moment. "What's your name?"

"Edward…"

"Get some rest, Edward. You're lucky to have survived at all."

Ed heard the door close. He was alone again. He tried to think of an explanation for what was going on. Here he was, severely injured by a giant rat, lying in a bed in what looked like an infirmary, and being looked after by a giant mouse. Either this was a dream, a very complicated prank, or he had been shrunk down to rodent size and was in some alternate universe where animals could talk and such.

Since he had been injured so badly, he immediately eliminated the possibility of it being a dream. You didn't usually feel pain in dreams. Of course, he could be delusional from the pain, but then why would he be able to think so clearly? Also, if this were a prank, who'd go so far as to nearly kill him just to mess with his mind? Of course, there was always Envy, but even so, it was doubtful that even _he_ would go that far. After all, Ed was a _precious sacrifice_.

Ed decided to just accept the alternate universe theory. It made sense, in a fantasy-ish sort of way. Right now, like the mouse had said, was a good time to sleep.

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Tansy walked slowly up to the infirmary. She wanted to see that creature again, partly because she wanted to know more about him, but mostly because she was worried. He'd been there for several days, and from what the elders said, there wasn't a very good chance of him surviving.

She arrived outside the infirmary just as Sister Cicely was leaving. The Sister looked at the young hedgehog with sympathy.

"You're worried about him?"

"Yes, Sister. Will he make it?"

"There's a good chance of that. Edward's strong."

"His name's Edward? How do you know that?"

"He told me."

"You mean…"

"He woke up just a little bit ago. You'll get a chance to talk to him in a day or two."

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The news of Edward's awakening had spread very quickly throughout the abbey by the next morning. Almost all of the dibbun population was compressed into the hallway just outside the infirmary. They only dispersed when Auma came up the stairs and shooed them away.

"It's a beautiful day outside, why don't you go out and play?" she asked them.

"No, no, we wanna see the Edward! He doesn't have fur!"

"Well, then, how can you be sure that he's not a monster that eats dibbuns?"

They paused for a moment, and then ran away. Soon the only ones left in the hall were Auma, Tansy, and Martin. Sister Cicely was inside checking on the patient. She came out after a moment, closing the door quietly behind her.

"He's asleep right now. Not much left to do but wait for the wounds to fully heal. So, if you want to go in now, you can, but be quiet. Right now he needs rest."

The three of them entered the room silently. Edward was lying on a bed directly next to a window, so the sun was shining on his face. Tansy stared at that face for several minutes. Although this was the first time she'd seen anything like Edward, she thought he was very handsome.

Martin sat down on a bed, all the while watching the strange creature. What kind of animal was he? Would he end up being friendly or dangerous? From what Sister Cicely had said about him when he had woken up, it seemed like he would be on their side, but since there had been problems with vermin lately…

They sat in silence for a long time, waiting for Edward to wake up. There were a lot of questions that needed answers, not just for them, but probably for him too. They had found a suitcase near his body, which seemed to belong to him, but he had been alone. That didn't make sense, since there were two sets of tracks on the ground. One of them definitely belonged to the shoes Edward wore, but the other… It was as if he had been walking around with a suit of armor or something.

Finally, Edward opened his eyes. Tansy gasped slightly as she saw the color: the same as his hair, gold.

Auma went over to the bed. "How are you doing?"

"……" The poor creature seemed confused. Tansy didn't blame him. After all, if she woke up to see something like Edward, she'd be confused too. Finally, he managed to ask something they could answer. "Where am I…?"

"You're in the infirmary of Redwall Abbey, in Mossflower."

"Redwall?"

"Yes, Redwall Abbey. Have you never heard of it before?"

"No, I haven't. And…"

"What kind of creature are you? Nobody's ever seen anything like you."

"Well, I'm a human, but… Usually humans are… well… bigger…"

"So you're small for a human?"

"NO! Well, at least… I shouldn't be this size, and I don't even know how this happened…"

_So he doesn't like being called small? And what's with his accent? It's different from anything I've heard…_ Tansy thought.

"How do you know you shouldn't be this size?" Martin asked.

"Well, we have mice and badgers and stuff back home, but they're a lot smaller."

"How small?"

"Like… If I were normal size, I could fit you in my hand."

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Almost immediately, Ed regretted saying this, because he could tell nobody believed him. They didn't say anything, though. Instead, the badger changed the subject by pointing to his arm.

"Why is it like that?" she asked.

Ed glanced at his right arm. "Oh, it's a replacement."

"Replacement?"

"For the one I lost."

Awkward Silence

"Um, can I see my brother?" Ed asked.

"Your brother? You were alone when we found you."

"Oh." _So that means…_

Flashback (new memory): _Ed and Al were walking down the road when a bunch of rats and such popped out and surrounded them. Before Ed could react, he and Al had swords pressed against them. Ed dropped his suitcase on the ground as one of the rats walked up to him from behind._

"_So, what exactly are you?" he asked as he pulled off Ed's red coat._

"_What do you think we are? We're humans."_

"_Well, I've never seen a human before. Where are you from? Are you from that one place?"_

_Another one walked up until he was inches from Ed's face. "Hey, this one's got nice eyes. Let's take them to the boss. Maybe they're worth something."_

"_What do you mean, worth something?"_

"_Shut up or I'll kill you," replied the rat, pressing his blade even harder against Ed's throat. Of course, Ed resisted, which ended up with him being beaten. He fought hard to keep conscious as the rats walked away._

"_So we're just gonna leave it here?"_

"_Well, what use would a corpse be to us? Besides, we've got this one."_

"_Good thinking, boss."_

No, _Ed thought._ Please, don't take him away from me… Please…

"Edward?"

Ed snapped back to reality as he heard Tansy calling his name. He looked over at her. They were alone.

"Huh?"

"You're crying."

"Oh." Ed covered his face with his right arm. "You can just call me Ed, by the way."

"Why are you crying, Ed?"

"I don't really know. I guess because I miss my brother…"

"Does your brother look like you?"

Ed managed to sit up. He pointed at his suitcase. "In there, there's a picture of us with our best friend."

"A picture?"

"Yeah, of when we were kids."

Tansy opened the suitcase and found the picture. "Is he the one with the darker hair?"

"Yeah."

"Has he changed much since then?"

"Well…" Ed thought about the body he had seen at the doors. "Yeah, he's changed."

"The three of you look sweet together. How did you manage to stay still for so long?"

"Oh, it only took a couple of minutes."

"To make something like this?"

_Oh, right, they probably don't have cameras and such here…_ Ed decided to change the subject. "So, this place is an abbey?"

"Yes, we've been living peacefully here for a long time. There have been some major conflicts, but those were resolved. Redwall's main purpose is to give woodland creatures a peaceful, safe place to live, and to help creatures like you."

"Like me?"

"Yeah, if somebeast's injured, or lost, or hungry, we'll help them out."

Ed looked down at his hands for a moment. "Sounds like a wonderful place to live. Where I'm from is nowhere near that peaceful."

Tansy stood up. "It's almost dinnertime. I'll be back with some real food."

When Tansy came back, Ed was asleep. She set the food down on a table and silently left the room. Once again, there were tears in his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Ah, finally got around to putting this up… sorry for the wait!

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Over the next two days, Ed didn't do much of anything. He just slept. Everyone wondered why he had suddenly become so quiet, until Tansy remembered the picture she had seen. The poor human was probably missing his brother.

Auma agreed with her, and they brought up this point to the elders. During the meeting, Martin looked at the picture of the three children.

"From what Ed said about those rats, there's a chance we won't be able to find his brother at all."

"Also, it would be dangerous. We can't just go out without a plan."

Auma looked over at Tansy, who was slightly upset about not being able to do anything. "Tansy, why don't you go check on Ed? I'm sure we'll be able to work something out."

Tansy nodded and headed up to the infirmary. Ed was sitting up in his bed, doing something with his right hand. He paused when he saw Tansy.

"I have good news."

"What's that?"

"There's a chance of finding your brother."

Ed looked at Tansy for a moment. Then he went back to studying his hand. "Don't bother."

"What? Don't you want to see your brother again?"

"I do, but it's not worth fighting those vermin. Al can take care of himself."

"Are you serious? They nearly killed you! How can you say that…?"

"Don't worry. My brother's a lot stronger than I am. That and… well… He doesn't exactly have a body anymore."

"What do you mean…?"

"Well, it's complicated, but… A few years ago, we did something that caused Al to lose his body. That's how I lost my leg, too. I managed to get his soul back and bond it to a suit of armor, but at the cost of my arm."

"Bond his soul…?"

"Like I said, it's complicated. Both Al and I are alchemists."

"Alchemists?"

"It's… I can't believe I'm about to say this, but… just think of it like a type of magic. Alchemy has a lot of different uses, from making weapons, to fixing stuff, and you can even bond souls, but at a price."

"You mean your arm? But how did he lose his body in the first place?"

"I… we thought we could do something we couldn't…"

At this point, the door opened, and Martin came in.

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Ed ended up having to explain the deal with his brother several times, and he even used alchemy to prove that he was telling the truth.

"So, your brother's just a suit of armor?"

"Right now, yeah."

"Even so, we shouldn't just leave him in vermin hands. They might destroy that seal."

Blah blah blah blah and so on…

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Tansy walked with Ed through the abbey grounds. She was giving him a tour, but neither was paying much attention to their surroundings. Tansy was still curious about humans, and Ed was watching a group of dibbuns playing nearby. They stopped when they saw him.

One of them pointed a finger at Ed and shouted, "It's the monster!" Then they all ran away. Ed was confused.

"How am I a monster?"

"Oh, right. Auma sort of told them that you were a dibbun-eating monster the other day, so that they wouldn't break into the infirmary."

"Oh. Well, should I go tell them the boring truth?"

"I don't think being an alchemist is boring."

"It's not as exciting as being a monster, though."

"All right, let's go." Tansy ran ahead and caught one of the young ones, a squirrel. Then she beckoned Ed to come over. Ed walked slowly and sat down next to Tansy, who introduced him to the squirrel.

"Arven, this is Edward. He's not a monster, so be nice, okay?"

Arven looked at Ed curiously. "You're no monster?"

"Nope. Just a human."

"But your arm's made of metal. Monsters have metal bodies."

"But I'm still not a monster."

"Then why is your arm metal?"

"Because, my real arm, the one that I was born with, was taken away, and I didn't want to just have one arm."

"How'd it get taken away?"

"Someone took it in exchange for something else."

"Oh. So you're not a monster?"

"No, are you?"

"Nope, I'm a squirrel!"

"Are you sure? You look like a monster to me."

"That's cuz you're silly!" Arven squealed as he got away from Tansy. Ed watched as he ran off to join the others.

"Well, there's one convinced," Ed muttered.

"What will you do?" Tansy asked.

"Huh?"

"I mean, about your brother."

Ed looked up at the sky. "Well, I'm going to find him, obviously. I don't want him to think I'm dead."

"You can't! I mean, you shouldn't leave until your wounds heal."

Ed looked at Tansy and smiled. "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon. And besides, I'll come back once I find him. He'll probably want to say thanks."

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Martin and Abbot Durral watched the two young ones speaking from a distance (it's funny cuz Ed's probably older than most of them). After a moment, Auma joined them.

"Why did he decline our offer to help, do you think?" she asked.

"Probably because he isn't used to our way of life. He might feel like he doesn't deserve help."

"No, I don't think that's it," Martin said.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice? He has a scar on his forehead. And that right arm of his, it has a lot of scratches in it, most likely from fights."

"So he gets into trouble. What does that have to do with him not wanting help?"

"When we found him, do you remember that silver watch with the chain? It seems like that's a symbol of authority. Why else would he have something that valuable in plain sight? I'm guessing that he works for an organization of some sort, most likely as a soldier." Martin paused for a moment. "Keeping that in mind, there's a certain look in his eyes, one that you only get when you've lost more than you should have. He's probably had to see friends be killed, possibly because of him, and he doesn't want to see that again."

"So, he's trying to protect us by refusing help? That's…"

"It's only a guess, but it shows strength on his part. Even though his life is hard, he's not going to let anybody else suffer because of it."

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A few days passed, and Ed's wounds were almost completely healed. He looked forward to the day when he would be seeing his brother, even if that day was still very far away. He would definitely have to come back to this place after finding Al.

He woke up one morning to a paw covering his mouth. He looked around and saw Martin standing on the other side of it. Once Martin let go, Ed sat up.

"What's going on?"

"We're heading out now."

"Eh?"

"I'm not going to let you go out there on your own. Besides, now that I know they're out there, I can't just let them wander around Mossflower unchecked. Come on, let's go."

Ed quietly pulled on his shirt and grabbed his suitcase. He looked out the window. It was still dark outside.

"Why do we have to go so early?"

"The others don't think it's a good idea for you to leave just yet, but if we don't go now, we could lose track of them completely."

"Oh." Ed followed Martin silently to a small side door on the outer wall. He looked back at the abbey as they walked out into Mossflower wood.

"You have a hood, right? Wear it."

Ed pulled his hood up as they arrived on the road. It was a chilly day, and there were clouds in the sky. Ed groaned. Traveling in the rain while wounded was not his idea of fun.

They made their way to where Ed had been found. Ed looked at the ground, trying to think. Where would they have gone from here? He looked over into the trees, trying to find an answer.

"Hey, look at this," Martin called from the other side of the road.

Ed came over and looked at what Martin was pointing at. There was a deep gouge in one of the trees, and at the base lay a small scrap of fabric. Ed recognized it from Al's loincloth.

Beyond that was a trail. Apparently the rats weren't worried about being followed, because they were leaving very obvious tracks through the woods. Ed curled his hand into a fist.

"Well, shall we go?"

"Yeah." They walked through the woods, stopping only when night fell and it was too dark to see. They didn't risk lighting a fire, although it was too wet for one anyway. Ed leaned against a tree and sat down.

"Sorry about this, I didn't think to bring a tarp."

"Nah, that's fine. I've dealt with worse," Ed replied.

"Really? Like what?"

"Pretty much everything that's happened in the past few years."

"Years? Wait, how old are you?"

"I'm fifteen years old."

"Fif… FIFTEEN?"

"What? Yeah, humans have fairly long life spans. It also takes longer for us to mature."

"Oh. That makes sense. Look, why don't you get some sleep? I'll keep watch first."

Ed nodded, not remembering that it was pitch black. He curled up into a ball on the ground, pulling his coat closer around him. His chest hurt.

----------dash

Martin had an easier time adjusting his eyes to the dark than Ed did. He looked around the forest, trying to see if there was any danger before turning his attention to the human sleeping across from him.

FLASHBACK:

"_Martin the Warrior spoke to you? What did he say?"_

"_Well, something about a body having the appearance of being whole, but in reality not being whole at all. And gold eyes."_

"_Is this someone who will come to Redwall?"_

"_Well, he said something about a journey, and about it being important…"_

Well, something along those lines.

With his coat covering his replacement arm, it was impossible to tell that Ed had lost a part of his body. He was whole, but not…

There was a rustling in the distance. Martin drew his sword and shook Ed awake. They waited in silence for something to happen.

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Something did happen. Before either of them could figure out what that something was, hooded creatures had surrounded Ed and Martin. Martin held his sword, ready to fight, but Ed stopped him.

"Don't do anything just yet. I have an idea."

Martin lowered his sword and watched as one of the creatures walked up to Ed. Ed, whose hood was still on, stood his ground as the creature pulled off his (the creature's) hood. It was a cat, and he glared at Ed for a while before speaking.

"Take off your hood."

Ed faltered as he reached up to his head. He was definitely taking his time. Finally the cat got impatient and yanked it off for him. He looked with interest at the human.

"So you're the one my soldiers had 'killed.' I was angry when I found out they had let such a fine specimen go to waste. Oh well, I suppose it's a bit too late to cancel their punishments." At this last sentence, the cat gestured to something in the distance. Martin looked with horror as he saw three bodies hanging from branches.

After a moment, Martin was forced to drop his sword. His arms were wrenched behind his back and tied together. The cat watched this for a moment before turning back to Ed.

"We're going to leave him alive for now. Whether he survives depends on how skilled he is as a warrior."

"What do you mean by that?" Ed asked, still glaring at the cat.

"Nothing too important. We're just going to leave him here. If he survives, then good for him. If not, too bad. I don't care about him, just about you."

Then it was all black for Martin.

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Ed looked around as he tried to assess the situation. His idea had been a complete flop. He felt something digging into his back, but he tried to ignore it. Right now he needed to be sure he wouldn't be killed.

"What do you want with me?" he asked.

"Oh, I guess you don't know who I am, do you?"

"No."

"Well, it doesn't matter at the moment. The important thing is that you're alive, and I can take you back immediately."

"Wait. What about my brother?"

"Oh, the suit of armor? He's most likely back at my home by now. He thinks you're dead, by the way."

Ed hung his head. He didn't want his brother to think he had been killed. It would be too much for him. The cat looked at Ed one more time before speaking again. "I'll let you see him once when we get back. Hey, I'll even send a messenger ahead with news of your being alive. Let's move out."

Whatever was digging into Ed's back pulled away just before something came crashing down on Ed's head. He collapsed on the ground, groaning, as the cat crouched down in front of him.

"Sorry about that, but we can't have you resisting and getting yourself hurt again, can we? Tie his hands and feet, and gag him. There's a chance that more of them will follow, so be sure not to leave a trail."

Ed wanted to resist as they bound and gagged him, but he was in too much pain. His wounds were stinging, and he felt a wet spot on his chest. One of the rats noticed this and pointed it out to the cat.

"Tie something around it. We'll take a closer look once we're away from here. Right now, he'll just have to live with it."

Ed watched as a rat came toward him, cloth in hand. Another rat pulled Ed into a sitting position, and the rat with the cloth stuck his paws between Ed's arms in order to pull the cloth tightly against Ed's body. Once that was over, the cat picked Ed up and draped him over his shoulders. Ed felt ridiculous, but there wasn't anything he could do. He was tied up and in pain, definitely not the best combination for trying to make an escape.

Instead of struggling, Ed decided to observe his surroundings, in an effort to memorize the way back. It went well until one of the rats realized what he was doing. Then the entire party stopped to give Ed a blindfold. Now he felt REALLY ridiculous.

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Tansy managed to get to where Martin was. She knew that sneaking out at night was a bad idea, but something, a sixth sense of sorts, told her she needed to follow Ed and Martin. It was a good thing she had gone against her better judgment, because she found Martin tied up at the base of a tree.

"What happened? Where's Ed?"

"They took him, but I don't think they're going to kill him."

"What do you mean? They already tried to kill him once."

"Because he resisted. This time he was calm, and he even managed to get them to spare my life."

"So they just left you here? That doesn't make sense."

"Don't worry about it. Right now we should just get back to Redwall. It's going to rain soon."

"But what about Ed?"

"There's nothing we can do at the moment. Besides, it's better if we leave him be."

"How is that?"

"I don't know exactly, but don't worry. Martin the Warrior will guide that boy out of that situation safely."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive." Martin patted Tansy's head as they walked back to Redwall.


	3. Chapter 3

After a while, Ed found himself being set down onto a comfortable chair. Someone untied his hands, and the blindfold was pulled off. Ed looked around. He was in a nice room, with all sorts of nice things floating around. Before he could figure everything out, he was pushed back so that his back was against the back of the chair. Then his arms were tied to the armrests, and his legs were firmly tied to the legs of the chair.

Once Ed was completely secured, the cat sat across from the young alchemist in a similar type of chair, legs crossed.

"I'd like to welcome you into my home. This is where you'll be staying for now."

"Mmmph."

"Oh, right. I doubt it'll do any harm to let you speak." The cat gestured to one of the rats standing next to Ed, who roughly pulled the gag off. Then the rats left, leaving Ed alone with the cat.

"Where's my brother? You said I could see him."

"Ah, yes. He's been asking the same question, apparently. I'll send him in after I'm done talking with you."

"Why am I here?" was Ed's next question.

The cat stood up and walked up to Ed. He placed his paws on top of Ed's arms and leaned until his face was inches away from Ed's.

"Do you see this scar underneath my right eye?"

Ed saw it, all right. It was fearsome.

"I got this scar while in a human city. After that, I came out here, to Mossflower. I didn't think I'd see another human again, but if there was a chance of that, I gave my troops the order to capture it and bring it here."

"So you're used to seeing humans in their normal size?"

"Yes, I am. Imagine my surprise and pleasure to find that there were two rodent-sized humans wandering around Mossflower."

"So why…"

"I wasn't scarred by a human. This is from a dog. A human saved me. One like you, actually."

"Like me?"

"He had the same eyes and hair, only the hair was shorter, and his limbs were normal."

"What was the name of the city?"

"Dublith."

"Dublith… I spent half a year in Dublith, training with my brother…"

"I know. You've changed quite a bit since then. I always meant to thank you for that, but by the time I found out where you lived, you had left."

"I remember you now. That happened at the end of our stay with our teacher. We went home soon after that."

"So, Dublith wasn't your real home?"

"No, we were just there to learn alchemy."

"No wonder you were gone. Now, then, shall I have your brother come in?"

--------------

Ed waited impatiently for his brother to arrive. He had been untied, but since he was in pain, he didn't leave the chair until the door opened, and Al walked into the room.

Ed stood up as Al walked toward him.

"Brother…?"

"Hey, Al."

"Brother! You're okay!" Al ran up to Ed and nearly crushed him in a hug.

"OW! AL, LET GO!" Al immediately let go of his brother, who sank to the floor, breathing heavily.

"Ed, are you all right?"

"No, don't you remember me almost dying?"

At this point, Fluffles the cat intervened. "Ah, sorry about that. I'm trying to prevent them from attacking Redwall, but they're still crazy and obsessed with fighting."

"Wait, if you're so anti-violence, why did you hang those three?"

"Well, I didn't decide the punishment. The rats did. I only went along with it because I needed to have them convinced that I would lead them to victory against Redwall."

"Oh…" Ed trailed off as the pain got the better of him.

"Brother!" Al exclaimed as Ed collapsed. Ed looked up one last time at his brother.

"I'm sorry I worried you, Al…" Ed groaned just before everything went black.

---------------

Fluffles watched Ed carefully as a female rat dressed his wounds. As she finished, she turned to Fluffles.

"He has a fever, sir, and the wounds reopened. He won't be able to move for a couple of days."

"Is he sick, or is the fever because of the pain?"

That question was answered as Ed began coughing uncontrollably.

"I'd say he's sick, sir. Nothing I can do about it. The only place around here that could help him is Redwall."

"That's not an option."

"I know, sir. I was just saying."

As she left, Fluffles walked out into the hall with her. Once she had gone her way, he beckoned to one of the rats guarding the room.

"Sir?"

"Bring the armor up here. I'd like to talk to him," Fluffles finished, trying to sound as menacing as possible.

---------------

Al stood by his brother's bedside, waiting for Fluffles to return. They had a plan to get Ed and Al to Redwall, but it was risky. Everything had to be done right, even if that meant knocking Ed out again.

Finally, Fluffles returned, and Al picked up his brother. At Fluffles's signal, Al crept through the window, carrying his brother. He got into the woods safely, and began the long journey to Redwall Abbey.

On the way, he was intercepted by a group of critters. One of them, a big badger, looked down at Ed's sleeping form, and introduced herself as Auma. The others introduced themselves as well, and Al found himself in the company of Ed's newest friends.

--------------------

Ed woke up in the same bed as last time. He only half opened his eyes, since he was still exhausted. Not only that, but he felt dizzy, and his throat hurt. There was a damp cloth covering his forehead.

He looked around to see if there was anyone else around. To his left stood his brother Alphonse. Ed breathed a sigh of relief. _I guess the trip wasn't a total loss. Plus we have some new information that could save everyone here…_

"Brother? You're awake, right?"

"Yeah, somewhat."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Not really. What happened?"

"Your wounds opened, and you got sick."

"Yeah, I know that much. I was talking about something else."

"He helped us escape."

"So, we're at Redwall."

"Yes. They're really nice here, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

"Doesn't it remind you of when we were kids, and Mom was still around?"

"Sorta…"

"You should rest, brother. You sound terrible."

Ed nodded his head slightly, and closed his eyes. It was a relief to be back here, especially since his brother was with him. _Poor Al, it must have been hard for him…_

--------------

Al sat next to the bed all that night. Sometime around sunrise, he heard the door open, and Tansy walked in. She came up and sat next to Al.

"You must be really worried about him."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean, you've been sitting here since you arrived. Aren't you tired, or hungry?"

Al looked back at his brother. "You know about me, right? How the inside of this is hollow?"

"Yes."

"Well, because it's empty, I can't eat or sleep."

"So, you're always awake? Doesn't that get lonely?"

"It does, especially during the night."

"I'm sorry."

Al looked back at the young hedgehog. "Oh, it's not all bad. I mean, I'd rather have my body back, but if brother hadn't bonded my soul, I would have disappeared from this world forever. Besides, this way I can protect him until we reach our goal."

Tansy looked at Ed. They were both silent for a while. "Um, you know, I was the one who found him. Well, I was with Rollo, but I stayed with him when Rollo went to get help."

"Was it weird seeing him? I mean, even as humans go, brother's pretty unusual."

"Because of his arm and leg?"

"Well, that and… He's short by human standards."

"Really? I mean, he's taller than most of the mice here, but then again, a lot of creatures are."

Around this point, Ed woke up. He looked over at the two watching him. "Are you making fun of me?"

"No, no."

"I heard you say short."

"I did, didn't I? Well, you have to admit it's true."

"Man, if the Colonel could see me now, there'd be no end to the bad jokes. 'See, Fullmetal? You _are_ small. In fact, you're the size of a mouse! Ha ha ha ha ha!' I'm so glad he's not here."

"The Colonel?"

"Yes, the person in charge of brother, Colonel Roy Mustang. Brother doesn't like him much."

"That's because he makes fun of me every chance he gets."

"So, wait, you're a soldier?"

"Not exactly, but I do work for the military, as an Alchemist."

"Really? That must be interesting."

"It has its moments, although not many. I don't like it very much."

"Why not?"

"The military of our country is very corrupt and hated by the people. There have also been countless wars fought since before I was born."

"That's terrible."

"It is. I guess the Colonel's not all bad, since he's trying to change that."

"So he is a nice man."

"Sort of."

Al stood up and walked over to his brother's bedside. "How are you doing?"

Ed closed his eyes. "I'm feeling better."

"That's good. Hey, brother, do you…" Al trailed off as he realized Ed had fallen asleep.

---------------

The elders were holding a conference down in Cavern Hole. From what Alphonse had said, there was a good chance of an attack against the abbey. They needed a plan.

"How many did he say there were?"

"About one hundred. Some of them aren't fit for fighting, though."

Their planning was interrupted when Tansy entered the room.

"Um, sorry for interrupting, but I thought you should know… Ed works for a military, so he might have some ideas."

"Is that so? Maybe we'll ask him then. Thank you, Tansy."

---------------

"So you're wondering if I have any ideas about how to deal with this?"

"Yes. Do you?"

"Sorry, but I haven't had any experience with this sort of thing. Despite all the wars that have been going on in our country, I've never been sent to fight." Ed paused for a moment and exchanged glances with his brother. "If you're trying to avoid a situation where lives could be lost, though, we can probably scare them off with alchemy."

"But would that really have an effect on them?"

"It's worked before, and that was on someone who was used to seeing alchemy."

"Still… are you sure it'll work?"

"I am a state alchemist after all. Stuff like this is my specialty."

"All right. We'll set up a patrol on the outer wall. But for now, why don't you just concentrate on getting better? I doubt they'll be coming anytime soon."

"Right." Ed looked at his brother again. Once they were alone, Ed lay back down.

"So… what should we do? I mean, how are we going to do this?"

"Well, whatever you make, it'll look creepy, so just make something big."

"What do you mean, it'll look creepy?"

"Have you paid attention to what you transmute? You have very bad taste, brother."

"Do not."

"Yeah, you do."

"Do you wanna fight?"

"Not really, since you can barely stand up."

"Yeah, and it really sucked when I couldn't move my left arm."

"Of course it did. I heard Sister Cicely kept making you eat some weird soup."

"Oh, yeah. Man, that stuff was vile. And I couldn't even refuse because I couldn't feed myself."

"But you're feeling fine now, right?"

"Despite the fact that it feels like my head's about to explode? Yeah, I'm doing great. Hungry, though."

"Well, it's almost evening, so I'm sure someone will bring food eventually."

"As long as it's not that nettle broth or whatever. Next it'll be milk."

"I don't think they have milk here, brother. I mean, it does come from cows."

"Right. It would be pretty hard to get milk, wouldn't it?"

"Sure would be."

Ed almost laughed, but then he realized it would be too painful, so he stopped himself. Instead, he smiled and closed his eyes. "I guess I lucked out then."

"Hey, why do you think we ended up being this size? Plus we can understand everything they say."

"That's a good question. I gave up with the dream theory, and it's definitely not a prank, so I guess it's just…"

"What?"

"…Magic. Even though magic shouldn't exist, that's the only theory I can come up with."

"So we just magically shrank?"

"Yep."

"Good thing I didn't have a cat in here when we came this way."

"Yeah, definitely. You would have exploded." Ed rolled over on his side. "How did I manage to get sick, though? Talk about bad timing."

"It could have been worse. I mean, if it had come right when you got hurt…" Al didn't have to finish that sentence.

"Hey, Al? You thought I was dead for a while, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"But it had to be painful."

"It was. But you're alive, and we're together. Right now, that's all that matters."

"What about your body?"

Al was quiet.

"Al?"

"Of course I still want to get it back, but right now we need to concentrate on what's going on here. I don't want to see anyone hurt here."

"Me neither." Ed was drifting off now. He muttered a couple of things before completely falling asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Bwargh I'm so sorry, I suck at updating… but here you go, chapter four! Way overdue, but here nonetheless.

-------------

Martin was standing in the hallway just outside of the infirmary, listening to the Elric brothers talking. He was about to leave when Sister Cicely walked up. She went in to check on Ed and came out after a moment.

"Honestly, I don't see why we're just letting his brother sit there, even if he doesn't need to eat or sleep. He needs to get outside sometime."

Martin nodded. "You have to realize, though, that for a while Alphonse had no idea that his brother was alive. Those two have a tighter bond than anybeast in this abbey. Besides, haven't you noticed? Ed's been healing much faster since he found his brother again. I don't see a problem with him staying. It's better for both of them."

"Even seeing his brother in such a bad state?"

"He's seen worse."

"I'm still worried about him."

"Don't worry, I'll get him outside soon. For now, though, don't try to separate them."

The sister nodded, and began to walk down the hall. "You're right about it being better for Ed, at least. I've never seen him look so peaceful as he did just now."

----------------

Ed stared at his plate. He had finally been allowed to leave the infirmary, and to celebrate, there was a party that night. Ed didn't see why they were making such a big deal out of this, but then he realized that this place was a lot different from Amestris. Everyone cared about him, whether he deserved it or not.

He tried to be cheerful, but he couldn't help worrying about certain details. What would happen after the situation with the rats was resolved? Would they be able to find their way back? Ed hoped so. He didn't want his brother to be stuck in the armor forever.

Tansy noticed Ed's mood and went over to him. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm just thinking about something else…"

"Like getting back to where you're from?"

"Yeah. Of course, we're not going to leave until we get rid of those vermin, but I have no idea where to go from here."

"Well, you have time to think about it, so don't worry about it right now. You should be happy you don't have to be stuck in the infirmary anymore."

Ed looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah, but I want to get Al back to normal as soon as possible. It's hard for me to concentrate on anything else right now." He looked over at his brother, who was currently being attacked by dibbuns. He tried not to laugh as one of them absconded with Al's head. "Even if it means nobody will be able to steal his head again."

"Shouldn't you go help him?"

"Nah, they'll get tired eventually. Besides, it looks like he's having fun."

Martin came up to the two as Ed said this. "So why don't you go join in on the fun?" he asked with a grin.

"Eh, I'm not really in the mood to be tackled."

"Then why don't you show them some magic?"

Ed groaned at the use of the 'm' word, but he decided to show off nonetheless. After all, he didn't want Al to hog the spotlight.

---------------

It was a few days before there was a sign of the vermin army. They came up the road as if being seen was part of their plan. Evidently they wanted to frighten the residents of Redwall.

Ed and Al, along with a few other Redwallers, watched them approach from the wall top. Once they were close enough, Al ducked so that he wouldn't be seen, and Ed made his way down to the front gate. Martin was there, waiting for him.

"You know what to do from here, right?" he asked the alchemist.

"Yeah, it's all set." Ed waved to his brother, who began the first phase of the plan. Ed listened as Al and Auma tried to convince the rats that Redwall was haunted. Once the vermin responded with disdain, Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. From the other side they could hear shouts and screams.

Al watched as the rats panicked. Once they had calmed down some, Auma shouted down, "See? What did we tell you? Are you sure you want to stay?"

One of the rats made a rude gesture.

"Oh, I see. Still not convinced, eh?" She waited until the ground underneath the vermin moved again. Then, to her surprise, some spikes jutted out of the ground, nearly impaling several rats. She managed to hide her shock as she continued. "If you value your lives, you should leave Mossflower. Don't ever come back."

There was a great deal of muttering amongst the rats, followed by a hasty retreat. Once they were sure the rats wouldn't change their minds, Auma and Al went down to meet Ed.

"What possessed you to make those spikes?" she asked Ed. "You could have killed one of them."

"I didn't, though."

"Still, that was slightly overkill, brother."

"I don't see how it matters now. They're gone, aren't they?"

Martin nodded. "He did what we asked him to do, and if it weren't for that, a lot of blood may have been shed needlessly."

---------------

Ed woke up early one morning to his brother shaking him. The sun hadn't risen yet. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Is it time to go now?"

"Yeah. Are you ready?"

"Just give me a minute," Ed replied as he fell back onto his pillow.

"Brother! Get up!" Al got a hold of his brother's hair and pulled him up.

"Ow! Okay, I'm up," Ed said as he rubbed his head. "Jeez, you didn't have to pull so hard."

They met up with Auma to say goodbye before leaving. She walked through the abbey with them, and as they came to the gate, she took Ed's left hand in her massive paw.

"I don't know anything about humans, but meeting you two has left us with a good impression. Thank you for helping us."

Ed gently pulled his hand back as they went through the gates. "Be careful, though. There are a lot of good people, but at the same time, there's a lot of corruption and destruction due to humans. Don't automatically trust any human you meet, if you meet any more."

"I'll remember that. Thank you."

"No, thank you for saving my life. I…"

"Feel free to come back and visit. We'll be happy to see you again."

"Yeah, if we get the chance, we definitely will."

--------------

They walked down the road in the direction from which they had come. Ed was going slowly, as if he were lost in thought. He only snapped out of it when Al pushed him off the road into some bushes. Ed watched as his brother tried to hide next to him.

"What's up?"

"Someone's following us."

"So why are we hiding in the bushes?"

"So we can see who it is."

"Oh."

"Shh."

Ed and Al waited for whomever it was to pass by. When whoever it was got close enough, Ed saw that it was Martin. They got back onto the road and greeted him, ignoring the fact that they had just come out of the bushes.

"What's up?" Ed asked.

"You forgot something," Martin replied, holding something out to Ed. Ed took whatever it was with a confused look on his face. "Stay on your guard. There's still a chance that they're still around."

"Right."

Martin waved as he walked back down the road. Ed stood for a moment, watching as the mouse walked away. He looked in the sack Martin had given him. Inside were his watch and a decent amount of food. Ed took his watch out and put the sack into his suitcase.

"Hmm. I wonder how I managed to forget this," he said as he put the watch into his pocket.

"Maybe you wanted to lose it. Or maybe one of the dibbuns stole it."

Ed looked into the sack again. Inside was a note. Ed pulled it out and looked at it.

"It's an introduction letter. In case we meet up with woodland creatures."

"What does it say?"

"Not much, just how we're humans and how we saved Redwall and all that."

--------------

It took several days for Ed to realize that they were completely lost. There was no way they'd be getting back to Amestris any time soon. They tried to retrace their steps, but that didn't work either. After a while, they ended up at a beach. They had reached the sea.

Ed groaned as he looked out at the water. "How did we end up here?"

"Maybe you should have stayed on the road."

"Are you blaming me for this?"

"Well, it _was_ your decision to leave the road and head into the woods."

"Yeah, well, you're the one who wanted to follow that river!"

"Only because we would have been hopelessly lost if we hadn't!"

"We wouldn't have been hopelessly lost!"

"Yeah, we would have! Face it, brother, you have no sense of direction!"

"Says who?"

"Everyone knows it, you're just in denial!"

Ed stopped as he saw something in the distance. There were several woodland creatures standing by the shore, all of them watching the two brothers. After a moment, they approached the two, weapons in hand.

"Who are you?"

Ed exchanged glances with his brother. "My name's Edward Elric. This is my younger brother Alphonse. We're trying to find our way back to where we're from, but we sorta got lost."

"Lost? Where are you from?"

"Uh… See, that's the problem, we don't even know how we ended up in this area."

"And brother's too stubborn to admit he doesn't know what he's doing."

"Will you be quiet, Al?"

The good news is that nobody was suspicious of the two after another moment of this. One of the shrews introduced himself as Log-a-Log, the chief of the Guosim. He invited the two back to the camp after reading the letter Ed handed him.

-----------------

Ed and Al spent the rest of the day helping the shrews fix boats and such. Ed earned a lot of respect for being an alchemist, and Al let his brother enjoy the fame. He didn't want to have to deal with youngsters pulling his head off again.

The next day was stormy, so the brothers stayed put. That evening, someone arrived in a boat. Ed managed to recognize it as an otter. She was suspicious of the two brothers at first, but she trusted them once Log-a-Log told her of what the two had done for Redwall.

That night, Ed was quiet as he listened to Grath's story. It was somehow familiar to him. Once she finished, he spoke up.

"So you're going to avenge your tribe now?"

"Of course. I can't just sit around and let them continue what they've been doing. Wouldn't you do the same?"

"I've gotten through fifteen years without killing anybody. I'm not in the mood to start now. Besides, I've seen how revenge can get out of hand. I know it's different for you, but back home…"

"Get out of hand? What do you mean?"

When Ed didn't say anything, Al decided to say it for him. "Our best friend's parents were doctors. They were working in a battlefield when one of the people they saved killed them. That person has also tried to kill us, out of revenge."

"Why did he kill them?"

"It-it's complicated."

After that, nobody brought up the subject again. The rest of the evening passed happily enough, especially when someone began singing. Finally, everyone had fallen asleep except for Al. He went outside for a while during a lull in the storm, looking out to sea. He started when he saw something moving in the distance. There, sailing in the unstable waters, was a ship. From what he knew about vermin, it seemed like the ship was a vermin ship.

But it didn't stop. It just continued going south. Al watched it for another moment before going back to his brother and waking him up.

Ed looked around in confusion as he woke up. "What's going on, Al?"

"A vermin ship just passed by."

"Oh, that's nice…" Ed mumbled as he lay back down. "Wait, what if they go up towards Redwall on that one river?" Ed moved to wake up Log-a-Log, but Al stopped him.

"We shouldn't worry them. Let's just go to Redwall ourselves."

"Right now?"

"Do you think we should wait until the morning?"

Ed shook his head. "But, we should leave a note, at least."

"I'll take care of that."

"Okay."


End file.
